A handful of investment banks, clearers and mutuals have been nationalised or merged but outside the core banking sector the shockwaves of the worst upheaval since the Depression have failed to dislodge many more victims.

This was Clive Cowdery's biggest mistake. He floated his Resolution vehicle in December 2008 with £600m of cash in the not unreasonable expectation of easy pickings. Quite the opposite happened.

A fallow period when the cash pile remained uninvested means investors who backed him and took up their rights when he did eventually buy Friends Provident and Axa's UK business are seeing an annual return of 8pc – pretty mediocre given the hype.

He's still promising to hit mid-teen returns by the end of 2012 and the evidence of cash returning to shareholders plus relief there won't be any more rights issues to fund deals will help lift the shares.

That doesn't mean there won't be any more deals, however. I can envisage a final flourish including a merger with another privately-held insurer leading to a float of the enlarged group early in 2013.